2006-04-04 04:00:00 PDT Dallas -- Joe Thornton couldn't have picked a better time to snap his longest scoreless drought as a Shark.

The player who almost single-handedly has turned around San Jose's season scored at 4:39 of overtime -- his 26th goal and first point in four games -- to lead the Sharks over Dallas 3-2 on Monday night.

The Sharks snapped a three-game losing streak to begin a three-game trip in four nights -- not to mention a busy final two weeks of the regular season -- with a victory in a difficult building.

San Jose rallied after playing three poor games in a row to dominate the best team in the Pacific Division. The final score didn't reflect the way the Sharks performed from start to finish, scoring only two power-play goals and one shorthanded simply because Dallas goalie Marty Turco was an absolute wall almost the entire evening.

"We got rewarded for our hard work," Wilson said. "The feeling had we not prevailed in overtime would have been awful if we got into another shootout with these guys."

Playing past regulation is nothing new for these two teams. Only two of the seven regular-season meetings between the two clubs have been decided in 60 minutes, with each team winning once. The Sharks have won twice in overtime, lost twice in overtime and lost once in a shootout. In other words, San Jose has earned at least a point in six of the seven games and nine points overall against the Stars.

"We play these guys pretty good," Thornton said. "We all know we've got to win a bunch of games to get into the playoffs."

The Sharks earned their eighth power play of the game at 3:22 of sudden death when Niko Kapanen hooked Milan Michalek, pulling the San Jose rookie forward down along the boards inside the Sharks' blue line. It was not a great penalty to take.

Employing three forwards and defenseman Tom Preissing, the Sharks worked and worked and worked until they created the winner. Three tired Dallas penalty-killers couldn't clear, then found themselves outnumbered low in the zone.

Marleau fed Thornton, and after watching Turco stop shot after shot, Thornton rifled a blast to the top far corner that no goalie was going to stop.

"I just wanted to get all I could on it," Thornton said.

"I'm glad Joe scored to get off the schneid because he's been struggling to produce points the last couple of games," Wilson added.

The Sharks could have -- and probably should have -- won this game in regulation. After Ville Nieminen broke a 1-1 tie with a splendid breakaway shorthanded goal at 10:44 of the third period, San Jose surrendered the tying goal at 18:13 when Jason Arnott beat Scott Hannan to the front of the net to punch home a Brenden Morrow centering feed.

"We've got to figure out how to hold onto leads a little better. We've got to close games like that out," Preissing said. "Obviously, we would have liked to beat them in regulation, but I think the team that worked harder won tonight."

Preissing fed Nieminen at mid-period for the shorthanded effort, a goal scored when the late-season acquisition faked to his backhand and lifted a forehand over Turco.

"I think it's an advantage when you have some speed," Nieminen said. "It was a huge goal."

Until that point, the Sharks thought they had the best of the play but had only a 1-1 tie to show for it. San Jose, which got a tying goal from Marleau at 5:06 of the second period after Dallas had the only goal of the opening 20 minutes, had a 24-9 advantage in shots through two periods and wound up with a 34-18 edge for the game.

Vesa Toskala made 16 saves in making his 16th appearance in San Jose's last 21 games.

"This was their third game in four nights," Wilson said. "It's not like we're spring chickens right now -- we've been playing a lot of hockey -- but they didn't have the same zip that they normally have. And that's why I think we were able to carry the play."

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